Week of June 2, 2016

Thank you, thank you Hilary Edwards for putting into words what has been bothering me for so long (“Where’s the kosher organic beef?”). I also searchedfor a better source of kosher meat for my family. When I investigated, I was not happy with what was being fed to these animals. It’s become a struggle to remain kosher knowing my meat source may have an effect on my family’s health.

At the moment, we have turned to eating less meat while we solve this dilemma. Perhaps if we consume less meat, our kosher suppliers may change their supply chain and offer viable and affordable alternatives. I feel this is a serious problem that should be discussed by our community.

Stan Salsberg

Toronto

A proposal for day schools

All Jewish day schools are crying about the lack of funding. Meanwhile, many families are thinking twice before sending their children to a Jewish school. A column by Jeffrey Stutz (April 28) suggested that grandparents help pay for their grandchildren’s Jewish education.

I also just read the letter by Shira Muller complaining that UJA Federation of Greater Toronto allocated only 26 per cent of its 2015 funds to Jewish education. Why not request that UJA transfer the funds to the school chosen by a grandparent donor and then give grandparents a charitable tax receipt?

Daniel Chai

Thornhill, Ont.

Re-thinking Hatikvah

By quoting without qualification MK Yousef Jabareen who, like a small minority of other Israelis, is agitating to have Hatikvah sanitized of all Jewishness and Zionism, Mira Sucharov propagates a dangerous historical untruth (“Making Hatikvah an anthem for all of Israel’s citizens”). Jabareen says, “The Arab minority are not just another minority. They are a native minority.”

This is patently untrue. There has been a continuous Jewish presence in the Land of Israel for 3,300 years. There is no older ethnic group in the country, let alone one that has established sovereignty there three times. The Arabs only migrated to the area from Arabia after the birth of Islam in the seventh century CE, making them relatively recent arrivals.

In light of these well-known historical facts, perhaps we should ask Sucharov, “Who are the natives, again?”

Steve Mitchell

Toronto

It is disheartening to read how Mira Sucharov wants to alter the Israeli anthem, removing anything Jewish in order to appease the Arab citizens of Israel.

Israel is a Jewish country and the first modern indigenous state in human history. Has she no issue about the overtly militaristic tones or explicit mentions of “vendetta” in the anthem of the Palestinians?

Willem Hart

Toronto

Anti-BDS bill irrational

This bill introduced in the Ontario legislature opposing the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) was so irrational and contrary to Canadian law regarding freedom of speech that one of my friends thought it was all a hoax
(“Anti-BDS bill defeated in vote at Queen’s Park”).

It certainly would not have survived a court challenge, and no doubt its framers realized that. So it has to be seen in this light, as a mere diversion, a red herring in the serious matter of what is going on in Israel’s control of the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The United Church of Canada and many other church and civil rights groups around the world have invoked a targeted BDS, a boycott of all products and services produced in or with materials from the settlements, which are in violation of international law (per the 2012 opinion of the International Court of Justice, and numerous UN Security Council resolutions).

The more general BDS has a lot of cracks in it, not the least being a serious concern for favouring the entire demise of Israel.